Tuesday, 3 January 2012

From 25th to 27th April 2012, the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre and FINPIN will host a joint global conference on “Entrepreneurial Universities” in Münster, Germany. The conference provides the attendees with an excellent opportunity to share and exchange the latest knowledge on “Entrepreneurial Universities”.

The conference will include key note addresses by policymakers and renowned experts in the field of entrepreneurial universities and the conference sub-topics, parallel track and several workshops. Offering both a double-blind paper review as well as a call for presentations, the conference calls out to both academics and practitioners.

Shannon ABC were selected to present at the conference in the 'Knowledge Partnerships and University-Business Cooperation' sub-topic. The presentation is entitled: "Shannon ABC - Regional Industry's Vehicle for Innovation".

Innovation has many suggested definitions with one basic tenet - conversion of knowledge into money. This conversion can be an obstacle for many companies through weak links in the innovation chain such as lack of research facilities, funding, personnel and inexperience in applied R&D. Traditionally academia has focused on basic research with long lead-in times to commercialisation, making it often difficult for industry to benefit from academic collaborations.

Shannon ABC was established specifically to meet the research needs of industry and is utilised as the vehicle to provide a business-facing academic service to industry. This service allows industry, often SMEs, to bridge the gap between new product concept and market entry. We will be presenting case studies from some of our client companies to illustrate the impact of our collaborations.

We are very excited about the conference, with invited speakers including those from the University of Adelaide, Australia and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa discussing "Alternative Business Models for University-Industry Collaboration" and "Entrepreneurship and Development" respectively. It is sure to be a fascinating conference.